


honey, honey

by fairestevies



Series: mamma mia! [2]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, basically a mamma mia au!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27781018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairestevies/pseuds/fairestevies
Summary: "So this was it then - Evie was going to invite three of her mother’s old flings to her wedding in hopes one of them might be her father?"A Mamma-Mia inspired Descendants Story.
Relationships: Celia Facilier/Dizzy Tremaine, Doug/Evie (Disney: Descendants), Evie & Mal & Uma (Disney), Evie & Mal (Disney), Evie & Uma (Disney), Gil/Jay (Disney: Descendants), Jane/Carlos de Vil, Mal/Uma (Disney)
Series: mamma mia! [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2069154
Comments: 15
Kudos: 16





	1. I'd heard about you before...

**Author's Note:**

> Story and Chapter titles from ABBA's "Honey, Honey."

“Find anything yet?” Mal called from the other end of the attic, her voice echoing off the castle’s thick walls as she searched through another box.

“Not yet,” Evie responded, feeling discouraged as she did the same on her side of the attic.

“Why are we doing this again?” Uma interrupted, paying more attention to ~~sharpening~~ filing her nails than the boxes through which she was supposed to be looking.

“It’s tradition,” Mal sternly reminded her.

“You get married _one time_ and think you know everything,” Uma mumbled under her breath.

Ah yes, Mal's marriage-turned-divorce was often the subject of one of Uma's bickering insults. It was as mutual as a divorce could be. It wasn't that Mal couldn't take the pressure of royal status; it was that she hated it. Important decision after important decision really started to take its toll on her, the heavy weight on her shoulders making it hard not to question everything she was doing. Ben knew she was unhappy; they never had time just to be them anymore.

But this was Ben's birthright, and who was he to keep Mal in a position that made her so unhappy. They gave it a good 7 months before deciding to end things, and Mal had felt some sense of relief. She still would help with council meetings and similar duties occasionally, but for now, Ben was ruling alone... again. The traditionalists of the kingdom were upset, of course, but they should have been used to it by now. If there were one word to describe Ben's time as King, it would have to be unconventional.

Evie bit her lip at Uma’s insult, hoping Mal wasn’t going to bite back. Though their bickering wasn’t necessarily helpful, it _was_ entertaining, and therefore the saving grace of her failing attempt at upholding a wedding tradition.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The something blue had come most effortlessly to her, of course, and two of the others weren’t too difficult to find either. But the something old is what they were searching for now in the attic of her mother’s castle. Evie didn’t know what exactly she was searching for but would know when she found it, wanting to pay tribute to her roots from the Isle of the Lost.

“Maybe we should just call it a day,” Evie groaned in defeat. “I can just use some old fabric or something.”

“E...” Mal started, crossing the room to cheer her up, but only after shooting a glare at Uma. “We’ll keep searching if you want - _all of us_ \- until we find exactly what you want, okay?” Evie was Mal’s best friend. They had been through so much together - they were family - and she wasn’t about to let Evie give up on something important to her when she had been more than helpful in Mal’s wedding planning process.

Uma rolled her eyes when she was sure both of them weren’t watching. “ _Fine,_ Mal’s right. I’ll keep looking.” Uma turned back towards the boxes they put to the side for her to dig through. Though she was less than interested in upholding a wedding tradition that was probably rooted in misogyny, she would do it for Evie. But probably not anybody else.

Ever since the barrier closed and Isle folk and Auradonians mingled alike, the three of them had become fairly close friends, or they at least let Uma join their little girl group. And it had been nice. She never had many girlfriends on the Isle, just Gil and Harry, whom she adored, but it wasn't the same. Until Uma scored an invite to Mal's bachelorette party from Evie when things... escalated.

Sure, Mal and Uma had a bit of a past, but Uma thought that had been put to rest when she accepted the invitation to the party and the wedding. Combine a few drinks and the two of them being left alone, and it was a recipe for disaster (though it didn't _feel_ like a disaster, Uma thought).

And then, they ignored each other, for months, despite Evie's best efforts at continuing the friendship, because, well, neither of them told her what happened. Eventually, Mal had been able to look Uma in the eyes again when she needed advice on a ruling decision regarding the Isle, which Uma knew the ins and outs of just as well as Mal. And fortunately, things started to get back to their pre-wedding normal, if not better, because now it was Evie's turn for a wedding, and no one was better at bringing people together than Evie.

“Did you hear that? She said I was right,” Uma heard Mal remark to Evie while she continued sifting through the junk in the boxes. Not a single seashell or gold coin or anything of value, just a lot of ribbons and fabric and crumbled up pieces of paper with failed potions scribbled across. Uma was ready to move onto the next box when she found something _actually_ interesting at the bottom: a notebook.

It resembled a spellbook (or maybe some sort of potion recipe book?), but Uma suspected a villain like the Evil Queen wouldn’t keep those hidden away in an attic for so long. Brushing off the dust and dirt from the cover revealed no clue to Uma as to what might be inside, so she started to snoop.

“What’s that?” Evie asked, turning towards Uma, once her and Mal’s chatter halted upon notice of their friend's unusual complying silence.

“Some sort of journal...” Uma uttered without taking her eyes off the pages. Mal and Evie hurried to peer over her shoulders, skimming the contents of the book.

“Is this like a diary?” Mal questioned as they continued to read the Evil Queen’s notes, following Uma’s finger as it traced the words on the page.

“I guess so...” Evie wondered aloud. “It seems like it's from... _before I was born?_ ”

The other two nodded in agreement. There was no mention of Evie on the pages, and she was the Evil Queen’s only focus, micromanaging the both of them to appear perfect to the outside world. They had grown a lot since those days, but it would have been obvious if the diary was used _after_ Evie came into existence.

“My eyes hurt,” Mal admitted as she backed away, blinking her eyes to correct the squinted that she had been doing to read the small, cursive handwriting. “I think reading another beauty tip about making my eyes pop might actually make my eyes pop right out of my head.”

Uma and Evie snickered as they continued to read, stopping when Uma’s finger finally hit something interesting.

“Evie, has your mom ever lived anywhere else but this castle?” Uma asked, looking in confusion at the addresses on the page.

“Not that I know of...” she responded, squinting at the sheet. “Let me see that,” she urged, finally getting the notebook out of Uma’s hands. Her mother’s cursive wasn’t easy to read, especially when the ink had faded on these old pages.

Upon closer review, Evie could make out the names above each of the addresses, or well, lack thereof. “It says ‘Suitor 1, 2, and 3’ above each location listed...”

 _“Suitor?!”_ Mal exclaimed. “Like a husband?! I thought she never married.”

“So did I...” Evie trailed.

“ _Suitor?!_ What is this, Camelot?” Uma chimed, cutting Evie off. “Why didn’t she just keep a list of her hookups in her phone like the rest of us.”

Mal rolled her eyes. “You know they didn’t have that type of technology or magic after they put a barrier-“

“You can thank your ex-husband’s family for that one.”

“You guys!” Evie yelled, interrupting their quarrel. “Do you think one of these could be my dad?” She asked earnestly, looking between the two of them.

“Maybe...” Mal commenced cautiously, “but let’s not jump to conclusions.” Mal knew how much Evie had wondered about who her father might be ever since Mal shared the secret of her own.

“Yeah,” Uma agreed, siding with Mal's hesitation. “I mean, I’m sure the Evil Queen had more than just 3 men lining up at her door in her prime.”

Mal looked at Uma skeptically, appreciating her weak attempt at slowing Evie’s hopeful roll. “Right... and don’t we have to meet the others at 4? We better get going...” Mal continued wishing to distract her friend from going too far down this rabbit hole too soon. Evie had always been optimistic, but Mal wasn’t sure this was something to be optimistic about. The Isle had always been full of disappointments, and she wouldn’t soon forget it just because they had spent time away.

"You're right," Evie sighed in surrender, gathering her things as the other two headed down the staircase. She paused for a moment after she suspected they were out of earshot.

Mal pulled Uma down the stairs quickly, hoping Evie wouldn't catch up to them as fast. At the bottom of the staircase, she was met with Uma's confused look, gesturing to Mal's hand, still holding her arm.

"Sorry..." Mal stuttered, quickly letting go of Uma. "I just am worried about this address thing... Evie tends to get... _invested_ in things quickly." Uma nodded knowingly. "I don't want this to go downhill, especially on her wedding day. Can you help me keep an eye on her?"

Uma sensed this coming from how things had gone "downhill" for Mal on her wedding day, but she failed to bring it up. "Of course."

Mal thanked Uma quickly and quietly as they heard Evie's footsteps following behind them, but not before she had shoved the notebook in her heart-shaped purse for good measure.

* * *

“I just have a few more designs I need to work on! With full focus!” Evie promised from the doorway to her office, knowing her fiancé would allow the privacy needed for her creative energy to flow, as she slowly closed the door behind her.

She rushed over to her desk and emptied her purse until she saw the journal again, already bookmarked on the page she wished to return to.

She couldn’t shake her mind from the addresses she found earlier. So many questions filled her head regarding the anonymity of her mother's suitors. It seemingly defeats the purpose of an address book if you don’t know who they belong to.

Evie huffed in frustration as she read over the 3 again:

Suitor 1

12 Mt. Cosmos St.

Suitor 2

89 Forest Ave.

Suitor 3

64 Shipwreck Lane

She’d never heard of any of these places - maybe street names had changed when the Isle was revamped? Shipwreck Lane sounded like it would be over where Uma and her crew used to dock, but her mom's outright disdain for pirates led Evie to believe her dad couldn’t be one. And Forest Avenue didn't sound like it belonged in the concrete alleyways of the Isle.

She read over the page again, but still, nothing clicked in her firing brain. It wasn’t like it would ring any bells for her anyway - her mom never spoke a word of who her father might be. There had been a time when she was much younger when she asked her mom these questions but to no avail. Even the magic mirror was blocked from revealing her father’s true identity; she had tried that method many times.

As Evie looked at the stack of wedding invitations on her desk, the white envelopes stamped, sealed, and ready to be mailed, her mind raced with a ridiculous idea. Before she gave it a second thought, she searched the desk for any extra invitations she hoped she had saved. Lo and behold, there were three... that had to be a sign, right? Except, she could only find two of the white envelopes.

Evie cursed under her breath as she sighed, clearly getting mixed signals from the universe about what to do. An easy solution, though, she thought as she opened the desk drawer looking for one last envelope. If there were one, she would do it; if not, she wouldn’t.

A few shuffles through the desk’s contents revealed a blue envelope with a black design in the corner, their original purpose escaping her at the moment. So this was it then - she was going to invite three of her mother’s old flings to her wedding in hopes one of them might be her father?

The knock on her office door caused her to jump in fright, and she hurried to cover the top of her desk in case he decided to enter.

“You okay in there? Anything I can help with?” Her fiancé's voice floated through the room, and Evie realized she had been in there for longer than she intended.

“Almost done- I'll come to bed in a second!” She called back sweetly, hoping not to give him any reason to come in, and luckily she heard footsteps heading away from the door.

With a quick breath, she scribbled the addresses across the blue and white envelopes as neatly as she could, sealed them quickly, and added them to the stack, the colored one in the middle so no one would notice the mismatch. Or at least, she hoped.

Evie scurried into her bedroom, spotting Doug sitting up against their headboard, a book perched in his hands. 

"There you are," he smiled, tilting his book down. "Which designs were you working on?"

"Oh, you know..." Evie drabbled, trying to remember her current works in progress as she got some pajamas out of her dresser drawer. "I was working a little on each of them."

Doug nodded, though that wasn't usually how she worked. "Aren't you letting Dizzy take the lead on 4Hearts soon? Since you _kind of_ have a big personal event coming up,' he teased, finally receiving a bright smile from her.

"Oh, really? I didn't see anything on my calendar," Evie joked as she crawled into bed, now in one of her favorite nightgowns. 

He kissed the top of her head as she curled up next to him. "But seriously, we're nearly two months away..." Doug was worried she would get overwhelmed once things started getting closer. Planning a wedding was stressful. He had seen plenty of brides in the family getting worn out and weren't able to enjoy any of the festivities. He didn't want that to happen to them, plus they had a whole business to worry about.

"I know, I know," Evie reassured. "Dizzy will be great while I take a break. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow, okay?" She hated to admit that she was struggling to part from her business, but Dizzy helps out enough anyway, and as a now college Sophomore, she would kill to have something like this on her résumé. 

Doug accepted her answer, marking the page in his book and tossing it on the nightstand as he turned off the light. As they both settled into bed, Evie felt lighter, letting her head wander to that romantic evening on the beach when Doug popped the question, trying not to worry about what she had done with the addresses and their wedding invitations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the Mamma Mia! inspired Descendants story! A few months ago, I was thinking about all of the headcanons for Evie's dad, and then it hit me, and now, here we are! I expect this to be around 7 chapters in total. Oh, and the somewhat of a prequel is up in this same series. More characters and ships to appear as well. I hope you enjoy this, as it has been a blast to write!
> 
> PS: I have made fake social media posts to go along with each chapter. You can find them here...
> 
> Twitter Thread: https://bit.ly/2MnjKj1
> 
> Tumblr: https://bit.ly/2WWJxk5


	2. I wanted to know some more...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story and Chapter titles from ABBA's "Honey, Honey."

“Diz, that looks fabulous on you!” Evie cheered as her friend walked out from behind the dressing room curtain.

“Right?! You did a great job with these!” Dizzy exclaimed. “And with the right accessories, it will be even more dazzling.”

“Speaking of accessories,” Jane started, as she walked out in a similar dress. “You've got some for me, right?

Dizzy’s agreement was overshadowed by Evie’s excitement of how stunning the bridesmaid dress looked on Jane as well. And her excitement continued as Lonnie, Audrey, Mal, Uma, and Darcy (Doug’s younger sister) modeled the same fashion. With everything that had been on her mind surrounding the wedding recently, it was a gift that the dress fitting was going so well. 

“Now it’s your turn, Evie,” Audrey pushed. “Let’s see your dress!”

“Okay,” Evie beamed, popping up out of her seat. “I’ll be right back!”

The rest of the bridal party made their way back to their dressing rooms to change while they waited for Evie’s big reveal. Uma, for one, couldn’t wait to get out of the pale blue dress. Sure, it looked nice, but she preferred her regular day-to-day look. Just before she reached her dressing room, though, she was harshly pulled behind the curtain of another.

Mal quickly closed the dressing room curtain before anyone could see. She looked at Uma, waiting for her to give an update.

But Uma was too distracted by the fact that Mal’s grip was still on her arm _again,_ and they were squished into a small space, so much so that Mal was practically breathing her breath, and-

“So?” Mal pressed.

 _“So_ , what?” Uma countered, snapping out of her distracted gaze.

“Do you have any update on Evie?”

Uma thought for a minute. “No… I mean, I haven’t really seen her much since the other day. I figured you would know more than me. You know, as her _official_ best friend.”

Mal rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore Uma’s sour comment. “She hasn’t said anything to me, which is how I know something is wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“She can’t go this long without bringing something _that_ important up. There's no way she just... _forgot_ about what we found.”

“I don’t know… She’s been pretty busy with everything.” Uma offered, but Mal still shook her head. “Okay, well… we could ask Doug?”

Mal snapped her fingers as if a lightbulb just appeared above her head. “I hate to admit it- that's a good idea. But, we have to be careful in case she hasn’t told him either.”

Uma nodded. “So... sounds like we have a plan… now can I go get changed?”

“Oh yeah, sorry,” Mal flustered. She had been so worried about Evie that she had yet to notice how _good_ Uma looked in the bridesmaid dress ~~(and how good she would probably look out of it)~~ but she shook those thoughts away quickly as Uma left her dressing room. That wasn't something she needed to revisit... again.

* * *

“Thank you!” Evie called as she waved goodbye to the fifth delivery person she’d seen today. She brought the package inside to where the others were sitting, surrounded by more deliveries from today. After the fitting, they had come back to Evie’s for lunch and were now focused on organizing the decorations while Doug was visiting his parents.

“These are the tablecloths,” Jane noted as she opened one of the boxes.

“The blue ribbons and bows are in here,” Lonnie added when she opened another.

“I have the candles,” Dizzy stated from her spot on the floor.

“So these must be the frames,” Audrey presumed, taking the box from Evie.

“I think that’s everything coming today then,” Evie thought aloud. “We’ll need to organize them all for when we need them.”

“Not it!” Uma exclaimed, flopping down onto Evie’s soft couch. “I did enough digging through boxes with you the other day.”

As soon as the words left Uma’s mouth, she shared a knowing look with Mal and Evie, all of them growing a bit tense when they remembered what they found a few days before.

“Fine, you’re off the hook,” Evie soothed, hoping her other friends didn’t notice their hesitation. “Can you and Mal help me in my design studio then?”

Uma sensed this was more than just wedding planning, so she agreed and followed Mal into the other room.

“Without those two, this actually might get done faster,” Lonnie teased, causing everyone to laugh.

Evie’s design studio was currently a mess, which was unusual for her. This was her safe space, an area to get away, but now, there were too many things in there. More wedding decor she had ordered lined the floors, and the walls, and her desk, blocking the invitations she had been trying to forget about.

The invitations.... specifically the ones she’d added a few days prior, had not left her mind. Was she just absolutely crazy? She couldn’t decide. Since then, almost every night included her waking up in the dark, wondering if she should rip up those three envelopes and forget it ever happened. But they were still there, behind a stack of papers regarding the wedding venue, and no one even knew she had done it.

“E, what’s up? I know this is about... the notebook,” Mal started, shooting a quick look at Uma once they were sure no one could hear them.

“I didn’t mean to bring it up...” Uma added, hoping Evie wasn’t upset.

“It’s okay...” Evie began, not sure how much else she should tell them. “I’ve just been thinking about it a lot.”

“Thinking about what?” The three girls turned quickly when they heard another voice in the doorway.

Usually, that voice made Evie’s face light up, but this time her heart sank. Doug was looking at them all in confusion, his eyebrows softly furrowed above his glasses as he removed his messenger bag from his shoulder. “Hi!” She exclaimed, hoping he wouldn’t ask again, but the falter in her voice sounded suspicious.

“Oh, it’s nothing really,” Mal soothed, trying to ease the situation since Evie had frozen. Clearly, she hadn’t told him yet. 

Doug wasn’t so sure he believed her. Evie looked worried, and he never wanted her to have a worry in the world. “Come on,” he trod over to her lightly, unsure of the situation. “What wedding decision are you discussing now? I can help.”

“Champagne or Wine,” Uma blurted, receiving glares from both Evie and Mal. “I said champagne was better for the toast at the reception, but Mal says wine.” Mal’s scrunched face clearly showed her disagreement.

Doug’s gaze returned to Evie. “That’s what’s tearing you up inside?” He questioned curiously. Evie was known to overthink, but this seemed a bit extreme.

Evie finally sighed and shook her head. There was no point in keeping the notebook from him anymore. “We found something at my mom’s place the other day...” she started, walking over to her desk and pulling out the old journal.

Uma and Mal looked at each other in shock, not realizing she had taken it. Mal had been right; maybe she was hiding something.

Evie flipped to the page she had bookmarked, the addresses staring her down in their faded ink. “We don’t know what they are for sure, but I think my dad might live at one of these addresses.”

Doug stared in disbelief at the antique notebook Evie had handed him. She had never known her father and had a rather rocky relationship with her mother, though it had mended slightly. In other words, this was huge for Evie to finally have a lead on something she had been wondering for so long.

“Whoa... this is huge news.”

“I know,” Evie signed, feeling relieved that he wasn’t upset about her keeping it from him. “That’s why it’s been on my mind so much. And only you three know about this,” she reminded them, seeing Mal and Uma inching towards the door to give the couple some space.

“Are you wanting to go there? Because we can, I mean, I’d go with you if you want. But if you want to go alone, that’s okay too,” Doug rambled, trying to process the information himself.

Evie cracked a smile. “I don’t think I want to do that yet... I don’t know... my whole life, I just thought I’d never find out who he was.”

Doug nodded empathetically, taking a step closer to her. “Yeah, I get it,” he reassured, wrapping his arms around her as she did the same. “Take all the time you need.”

That was all she needed to hear for now, as she let out a sigh of relief, ignoring the slight burning of the invitations staring her down from behind.

Doug kissed the top of her head. “But I do have to know,” he mumbled against her blue locks, “champagne or wine?”

Evie snickered and shifted to look up at him, pressing a kiss on his lips. “Champagne, _obviously._ ”

* * *

“Champagne or wine?! _Really?!_ ” Mal whisper-shouted meanwhile in the hallway.

“It was the best I could do,” Uma defended, “And I don’t know why you’re so upset. She told Doug, so now that’s _another_ person who can make sure she doesn’t get hurt… or at least will be there for her if she does.”

“Fair point,” Mal responded, softening. “But he still would do whatever she wants, which is good, under normal circumstances. But I mean, just showing up at the addresses? That could be a disaster.”

Uma nodded in agreement. “Well, we can just make sure she doesn’t do that, alright? I don’t think she’s hiding anything from us now.”

Mal sighed as they reached the rest of the group in Evie’s living room. She hoped Uma was right, but she still had a bad feeling about all of this. If only they hadn’t found that damn notebook.

"Look who's back!" Lonnie cheered. “Too bad we are almost finished.”

"Too bad, indeed," Uma faked, walking over and plopping one of Evie's empty couches.

"That was actually really fast," Mal encouraged, going to sit on a different couch, ready to move the decorations aside to make space. 

"Don't you _dare_ touch that," Audrey scoffed, eyebrows raised. "The reason we got it done so quickly is that we have a _system_."

"Sorry, Mal," Jane cooed, trying to soften Audrey's blow.

Dizzy looked around the room for an empty seat, but there wasn't one. "Just sit with Uma," she offered.

"I'm not moving," Uma grumbled, eyes closed as she sprawled out even more.

Mal rolled her eyes. " _I'm nOt mOviNg_ ," she mocked quietly until she decided, without thinking, that it would be more fun to _make_ her move. So, Mal sauntered over to the couch, stretched and yawned annoyingly loud, and laid down right next to Uma. This gesture got the other girls to chuckle, and she thought she saw Uma smile too. Granted, Mal was about to fall off the couch, but it was nice for a moment... until she realized why.

Uma had thought it was nice too, but then, remembering how it was something they used to do and how badly it kept ending, she stiffened. It was frustrating, she thought. _Mal can't just keep doing this_. It was one thing to ignore what had happened and just be cordial to each other, but it was another to act like they were really close friends and be affectionate like she is with Evie when that just... _wasn't_ what they were. And they were never going to be- Mal had made that pretty clear in her ignoring Uma for months after what happened just before her wedding.

Uma couldn't tell her off the way she wanted to right now, though. They were far from alone, and she didn't feel like causing a scene, so she settled on shoving Mal's legs off instead.

"Play nice," Evie warned, shooting a look at Uma and Mal as if she hadn't seen what just occurred. " _Wow,_ this is seriously impressive!" She remarked, turning her attention to the neatly organized decorations. "Thank you guys so much!"

Evie continued to praise her friends for their hard work as they moved their progress from the living room to her design studio, or temporary wedding supply closet. She couldn't wait to get all of that stuff out of her house and to finally see her vision and hard work come to life at the venue. It was what she loved most about designing, seeing the final product come to life.

She closed the large door to the studio after everyone had helped her move the decor. The room may be denser with items now, but she felt somewhat lighter, having gotten some things off her chest in there earlier. However, she still couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt at what she was still hiding...

* * *

Evie awoke the next morning when the sun began to shine through the windows. She wished the bright light had been the only thing causing her early rising, but the truth is, she hadn’t slept soundly.

She was still thinking about the invitations stacked atop her workspace, though it was nothing new. They were haunting her, and the fact that she hadn’t told a soul was practically eating her alive. She felt ashamed in a way, the close call yesterday between Mal and Uma and Doug replaying in her mind. _They had been right there..._

Evie started to wonder how they would react if she told them. She figured they would be supportive... actually, no, she _knew_ they would be supportive- after the initial shock wore off. That alone made her feel even more guilty. She should have just told them yesterday when she had the chance.

Evie huffed as she turned over in her bed, away from the window allowing the sunlight to blind her eyes. She buried her face in her pillow, waiting for her eyes to readjust. As soon as they did, she was met with Doug’s sleeping face, peaceful and unbothered. She softened her sour mood at the sight, smiling slightly at the way his parted lips moved with each breath.

She didn’t like keeping secrets from him, or her friends, and clearly, she was starting to wonder why she was in the first place. But maybe she didn’t have to; after all, it wasn’t like she had actually sent the invitations yet. And she had been going back and forth about it ever since the thought first crossed her mind.

Telling Doug last night had given her a small sense of relief. He was fully prepared to travel with her to meet three strangers to both of them, though Evie might be related to one. She hadn’t thought of doing something so _sensible_ and instead considered inviting the three to their most important day.

It was ridiculous, she realized. And she hadn’t been sparked with interest at the thought of meeting them, just having them witness her big day, seeing how she had turned out. It was kind of the same reason her mother would be there, so perhaps it was more of a prideful move than a caring one.

She was more than content with her life, so why did she need to add to it?

That was settled then. She didn’t need to send the invitations.

As quietly as she could, Evie slipped out from the covers and tiptoed across the floor, the slight pitter-patter of her bare feet light enough to keep Doug undisturbed.

Her eyes scanned her office as she slid through the doorway, not wanting the large door to creak as it usually does. The place was still crowded with wedding and design supplies alike, but they had made much progress in their organizing efforts the previous day.

She smiled at the box of leftover “Save the Dates” she had mailed a few weeks prior, the design and picture of the two of them smiling, making her heart flutter. Uma, of all people, had actually pointed the card design out to Evie, and she absolutely loved it.

But that wasn’t what she was there for, moving the box to the left just enough to see the stack of invitations she had left.

_Or lack thereof._

The space behind the box was empty, showing nothing but a few pencil scratches on the old wood from her sketches.

Evie’s breath froze as she began to panic. Auradon’s lack of magic indeed reminded her that the stack of invitations could not have just gotten up and walked away themselves.

She looked under the box, under lots of boxes actually, all around the room. She even dug through fabrics she hadn’t touched in months, but of course, they were nowhere to be found.

Evie drummed her fingers against her chin. She had really gotten herself in a sticky situation.

Her legs traveled quickly this time as she returned to her bedroom to retrieve her phone from her nightstand, skipping back out of the room as quickly as she came.

Her fingers quickly found Jane’s contact, and let her phone dial the number, waiting as patiently as she could to the sound of the ringer.

“Hello?” Jane’s voice was groggy, but Evie wasn’t surprised she was awake. They were both early risers.

“Hey Jane,” Evie cooed as if nothing was wrong. “I was going to add one more stamp to the invitations, to make sure they get to the guests quickly,” she lied. “But I can't find them. Did you move them?”

“Oh, no, sorry,” Jane stumbled. “I grabbed them on the way out yesterday and took them to the post office. Don’t worry, though, that should give them plenty of time to-“

Evie didn’t hear the rest of Jane’s rambling about the speed of Auradon’s mailing system. Her ears were ringing as she slowly slid down to the floor.

_What had she done?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We love a cliffhanger! Thanks for reading!
> 
> PS: I have made fake social media posts to go along with each chapter. You can find them here...
> 
> Twitter Thread: https://bit.ly/2MnjKj1
> 
> Tumblr: https://bit.ly/2WWJxk5


	3. honey, honey don't conceal it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story and Chapter titles from ABBA's "Honey, Honey."
> 
> CW: Mentions of death

After a good twenty minutes of sitting on the cold floor of her studio, Evie was able to look at her phone again. She managed to thank Jane before she had hung up, despite feeling totally confused and overwhelmed with how she got here.. She scrolled to find her group text with Mal and Uma, her fingers furiously typing an SOS before waiting for a response.

 **Mal:** _It’s too early for this_

 **Evie:** _I did something_

 **Uma:** _And?_

Evie waited a moment before typing back, trying to find the words to say, but nothing would really make the situation better.

 **Evie:** _I may or may not have accidentally sent wedding invitations to the 3 addresses we found in my mom’s notebook_

Her phone started blowing up almost immediately after she sent her previous text. The only thing that made the situation slightly humorous was imagining the two of them simultaneously freaking out.

 **Uma:** _No you did not_

 **Uma:** _You absolutely did not_

 **Mal:** _EVIE_

 **Mal:** _HOW DO YOU ACCIDENTALLY DO THAT_

Evie locked her phone before she read anymore, knowing it would be the same types of messages she received. She was just as shocked about the situation as the both of them. She expected the texts to die down with her lack of response, figuring Mal and Uma would be at her door any moment now, but instead, they kept coming through. She flipped her phone over again, noticing activity in another group chat.

 **Jane:** _Evie, you did what?_

Her heart stopped.

 **Evie:** _How did you already know?_

 **Mal:** _I told Carlos and Jay_

 **Mal:** _Because you’re supposed to be the responsible one_

 **Evie:** _I am the responsible one!!_

 _Great_ , she thought, now _nine_ people knew, though Lonnie, Dizzy, and Audrey had yet to respond. She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration, letting her hand fall back to the floor. Her phone had yet to stop chiming.

 **Lonnie:** _I think it’s a great idea_

 **Audrey:** _Oh gods what did I miss_

 **Uma:** _Does your fiancé know about this?_

 _Shit._ At this rate, he was going to be the last to know.

 **Evie:** _I’d prefer we stopped telling people before the entire Kingdom knows!!_

This time she locked her phone for good, sliding it across the room. She hugged her knees to her chest, shivering slightly in the cold of the still morning and at the thought of her father potentially showing up to her wedding. She didn’t even know who he was, what he was like, or if he even wanted anything to do with her. It was all too much.

“Evie?” She heard from the kitchen in a soft, worried tone.

“In here,” she called, her voice a little shaky.

Doug appeared in the doorway less than a moment later, breathing a sigh of relief, seeing that she was safe, even though he could tell something was wrong. He joined her on the floor and pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her. “Carlos called me to make sure you were okay,” he explained, rubbing her head softly.

“I didn’t want to wake you up…” she replied into his chest. 

Doug loosened his hug so he could look at her. “Evie… What’s going on? You’ve seemed so on edge recently. Is it the wedding? We can push it back. Or elope. Or cancel it altogether if you don’t want to get married-”

Evie shook her head to stop his rambling. “It’s not that, Doug. I want to marry you.” 

His lips faltered into a small smile at her words, relieved, before returning flat. “Then what is it?”

She took a deep breath, preparing for the explanation she had to give him. He deserved to hear it. “Those addresses I showed you yesterday… I had written them on some extra wedding invitations… I don’t know why… but I decided to take them out of the stack this morning, and then they were gone because Jane went ahead and sent them all, and now there might be three people I’ve never even met at our wedding, and one of them might be my dad.”

Doug’s thumb slowed its rub across Evie’s arm as he processed the information. “ _Damn_ ,” he breathed, chuckling slightly in shock.

“I know,” she sighed, “It was stupid.”

“No, no, it wasn’t,” Doug reassured her, realizing his shock had come across as judgemental. “I’m sorry, I just wasn’t expecting that, and I know you weren’t either, but you’re working toward finding your _dad_ , Evie. I know you've been wondering about him for a long time…”

Evie nodded, this time leaning against him, unfolding her legs from their tight hold in her own arms. “But now I've made this huge _mess_ that we’re not prepared for.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he promised, holding her close again. “We’ve got time.”

Evie closed her eyes, resting against him, beyond grateful to have gotten this off her chest. “Thank you.”

He smiled, pressing a kiss on her temple. “I mean three dads? Try _seven_ uncles...”

Evie laughed, finally feeling lighter about the situation. She turned to kiss him, murmuring three little words against his lips, before she heard a light tapping on the window. They both opened their eyes to see Mal, Uma, Jane, Lonnie, Dizzy, Celia, Carlos, and Jay standing outside in their pajamas, holding blankets, pillows, and boxes of donuts.

Doug helped Evie up, and they went to open the side door of her studio.

“What are you guys doing here?” Evie asked in surprise.

“We wanted to cheer you up,” Jay smiled, holding up a large stuffed animal.

“And we brought donuts!” Dizzy exclaimed, she and Celia holding up the large boxes as proof. 

“I’m sorry for freaking out on you, E,” Mal added. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Evie smiled at all of her friends. “I know,” she replied to Mal, pulling her in for a hug, before extending the offer to the group.

“We love you, Evie!” Lonnie squealed in the middle of the group hug, everyone chorusing her sentiment.

“I love you guys,” Evie laughed, holding them all close. 

The rest of the morning consisted of a few of Evie's favorite cheesy movies, lots of donuts, and the ten of them squished together enough to fit on Evie's couches that they had arranged into a mega-bed of sorts. Looking around her, she had all the family she needed. If her dad didn’t show or wasn’t what she was expecting, she would be absolutely fine.

Evie shifted slightly to prevent her limbs from falling asleep. Her head rested on Doug's arm, his hand slowly brushing through her hair while her arm was linked with Mal's, whose legs were sprawled across both her and Uma, who had fallen asleep soon after the romantic interest was introduced. Celia covered Uma's other side, resting her head upon Dizzy's shoulder.

Uma stirred slightly, causing Celia to shift to give her some space. Like dominoes, Mal did the same, followed by Evie, then Doug, then Jane who was lying against Carlos who was lying against Jay. Lonnie had opted to lay horizontally across the bottom, which Uma thankfully remembered not to kick her as she moved. Once she was settled again, the dominoes reversed, and she was once again sandwiched between Celia and Mal. This time, when Mal's leg crossed over Uma's, she was too lazy to push it off.

At least, that's what she was telling herself.

* * *

Nearly two weeks had passed, and everything had been going relatively smoothly, considering the circumstances. Having all of Evie's friends checking up on her made her feel loved, and it helped distract from the fact that all of them knew about what she had done, mistake or not. 

Other than that, no one really discussed the situation. It wasn’t like they had any more details, though everyone kept their eyes peeled for something to pop up, like any RSVPs from those unknown guests. which would have been really helpful considering they would at least be able to match some names with addresses.

But they had yet to get a response from anyone they didn't recognize. After all, Doug would know; he was in charge of all the RSVPs given he had the most family members to account for.

One day, though, when he was going through the newly received mail, he noticed something out of the ordinary.

“I’ll just be opening the new RSVPs if you need me!” He had called to Evie, who was finalizing the details of her bachelorette party with Mal and Jane. It was only a few days away.

“Alright…” Doug mumbled to himself as he sat down at their kitchen counter. “Let’s see what we have here…”

He began sorting through the stack of small envelopes, checking off the names from the guest list as he came across them.

Uncle Bashful & Co., _check._

Uncle Grumpy & Co., _check._

Uncle Doc & Co., _check._

Chad Charming, _check._

Derek, his older brother, _check._

Deceased, _che-_

Wait… Deceased? Doug looked at the envelope again, and strangely enough, there was a red-ink stamped _“Deceased: Return to Sender”_ above the address: _89 Forest Ave._

Hmm… Doug assumed it had to be one of the addresses that Evie found in her mother’s notebook, but he couldn’t remember. With a quick pause and glance up the stairs to make sure she was still on the phone, he slipped into her office. 

The notebook was luckily the first thing he saw in her desk drawer. He opened it up to the bookmarked page, and sure enough, below “Suitor 2” was 89 Forest Ave.

He pondered his discovery for a moment… he still hadn’t quite processed the whole _suitor_ thing. And now, one of them was dead? Or had _been_ dead? He wasn’t sure. 

Doug put the book back in its place and returned to the kitchen. Evie’s laugh echoing from upstairs confirmed she was still preoccupied. 

He huffed and stared at the letter again. Under the red ink, there was some scribbled handwriting he hadn’t noticed before. He held the envelope up close.

Hu. _.ngry?_ No. 

Hum.. _phrey?_ No. 

Hum..ber..t

Doug froze as he finally understood the writing on the returned letter. It was a name, and unfortunately, a name he recognized. 

Humbert was the surname of the Huntsman that the Evil Queen had forced into killing Snow White. He didn’t go through with it, thankfully, but when the Evil Queen found out he had lied about succeeding at her orders, she killed him.

Or at least, that’s what he had been told. He was aware that Auradon’s History courses were biased from the “hero” perspective. And his family had many of these biases as well, until they had actually met Evie, the sweet and kind and dedicated daughter of their sworn enemy.

But that's beside the point, now, he supposed. The real issue was that one of Evie’s potential fathers was dead, possibly at the hands of her own mother, and _he_ was going to have to tell her. 

* * *

“Hey,” Evie chimed as she glided down the stairs. “How are the RSVP’s going?”

“Swell,” Doug lied. “I have almost all of my uncles accounted for…”

“Yay!” Evie cheered, kissing him quickly on the cheek as she made her way into the kitchen. “I can’t wait to see them all again. It’s been so long.”

Doug nodded and smiled despite his sinking feeling growing on the inside. She seemed to be in such a good mood, and he didn’t want to ruin it. “Bachelorette party all set?”

“Yep,” Evie nodded, taking a swig of the juice she had retrieved from the refrigerator. “Mal and Jane won’t tell me everything we are doing, but I think it’s going to be fun. What about you? Ben and the others told you anything yet?”

“Not really,” Doug forced a laugh. “I’m most nervous about what Derek and Jay are going to throw at me.”

Evie grinned. “I made Jay promise to take good care of you. He knows he’ll be _dead_ otherwise,” she teased, sitting on the barstool next to him.

Doug smiled weakly, the word “dead” in her voice ringing loudly in his ears. “Eves... I have a question.”

“ _Hmmm?_ ” Evie hummed, starting to sort through the RSVPs Doug had already opened.

“Hypothetically… if you had an exciting event coming up, and I found out some… bad news… would you rather be told before the event, even if it would ruin the mood, or after?”

She thought for a moment. “Probably after, unless it had something to do with the event,” Evie decided, Doug only nodding in response. “But, _hypothetically,_ you should tell me now.”

Doug chuckled slightly, trying to swallow his nerves. He should have known his hypothetical questioning wasn’t going to work on her.

Evie eyed his demeanor carefully, laying a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

He sighed, releasing the air he was holding out in preparation for ruining her entire day. “So, I was, you know, looking through the RSVPs we got back…”

Evie nodded when he stopped, signaling him to continue, but he went a different direction instead.

“How much do you know about your mother’s history… from like… before the Isle?”

Evie was caught off guard, and honestly, Doug was surprised at the words that came out of his mouth. Obviously, when the Evil Queen's daughter and the son of one of the seven dwarves began dating, conversations were to be had about their families and perceptions and so forth.

And they _did_ have those conversations, except they were more about dealing with their families in the present and putting the past behind them and moving forward. So much so that they possibly had never talked about their family “history” because, well, they never thought they needed to.

“Sorry…” Doug apologized, taking her hand. “I just found something, and I need to know how much you know about it… or don’t know, so I can tell you the rest… of what I know at least.”

“Um… Okay…” Evie started, feeling worried. She didn't know much about her mom before the Isle, which is how she got to this whole three-strangers-at-her-wedding predicament in the first place. But Doug’s thumb rubbing the back of her hand encouraged her to continue. “Well, I know that my mom wanted Snow White dead…” 

Doug nodded, noticing her hesitation. “It’s okay... I know we put this past us, but we just need to… compare stories.”

Evie sighed, “Well, then the dwa- _your uncles_ pushed her off a cliff? Which, now that I think about it, I don’t believe… and she was dead until Beast brought the villains back to life and put them on the Isle. Is that what you know?”

“Kind of…” Doug admitted. “I heard that she slipped or something. But anyway, does the _Huntsman_ ring any bells for you? Or the name… _Humbert_?”

Evie pondered his words for a moment. “From my mother, no,” she decided, trying to think back. “But the Huntsman sounds familiar, maybe from history class? Why? Are they a part of your family?”

“Oh boy,” Doug muttered to himself, pulling the letter out from the bottom of the pile and handing it to her. “This is what came today. I noticed the name Humbert scribbled underneath the stamp, and I recognize that name. Humbert was the Huntsman that your mom… hired, I guess? To get rid of Snow White, but he didn’t follow through.”

Evie ran her fingers across the envelope, taking in what Doug had just told her. Why would her mother never mention this person? They were close enough that she had him listed as Suitor # 2 in her notebook, so why wouldn’t she mention her… _henchman?_ Unless...

_“So… my father is dead.”_

Doug watched Evie closely as she stared a hole through the envelope, his soul crushing at her words. He hadn’t even told her the full truth. “I… I don’t know. I mean, Humbert is dead, apparently, but he might not be your father.”

“But he might be,” Evie remarked coldly. _Just_ when things were looking up for her, something had to go wrong again.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, trying to read her frozen face. He saw her slowly start to lean towards him, so he gently pulled her into his arms, her head resting on his shoulder.

He hated that it had to happen like this. But what he said before was right too, this guy might _not_ be Evie’s father, and at this point, Doug hoped he wasn’t. Evie had been worried about the absence of a father at her wedding for a while now, and he knew when she found the addresses as clues, she had gotten her hopes up. She deserved to get what she wanted out of this; she deserved the world in his eyes.

Evie squeezed her eyes shut, a single tear falling onto the envelope as she rested on Doug’s shoulder. This _sucked._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big chapter coming up... Thanks for reading!


	4. now i'm about to see what you mean to me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story and Chapter titles from ABBA's "Honey, Honey."
> 
> CW: mentions of death, alcohol

It had been a quiet two days at Evie’s, the sting of the news they found still in the air. Evie swore she was fine, but Doug knew she was hurting, and that killed him inside. There hadn’t been a lot of wedding preparation to be done, thankfully, so the days allowed for movie-watching and couch-laying and time to process everything, just the two of them. It had been much-needed, to say the least, except tonight were their respective bachelor and bachelorette parties, and Doug had a bad feeling about all of it.

“We’re here!” Mal sang as she opened the front doors, Uma following behind her. “Where’s the woman of the hour?!”

“Still getting ready,” Doug spoke as they found him in the kitchen. 

“Of course, she is,” Uma sighed, resting her elbows on the counter.

“What are you still doing here?” Mal asked Doug. “Shouldn’t Gil and Jay be getting you?”

“Gil and Jay? On time?” Doug laughed, the other joining in. “Actually, it's Ben who is coming in a bit,” he warned.

“In that case, I will be leaving,” Mal admitted, turning back towards the door.

“No, wait!” Doug started, “I needed to talk to you guys about something.”

Mal turned back around, prepared to give Doug her full attention. If he wanted to discuss something with Mal, it was usually pretty important.

“I don’t know if Evie told you all, but we got this back in the mail the other day…” he handed them the returned letter to look at. “It was one of those addresses that you found, and the name- Humbert? I recognized it from, well, being in my family, but also history class. He was the guy who was supposed to kill Snow White for…”

“Evie’s mom…” Mal finished when Doug had gotten quiet. She stared at the letter before her, the word _deceased_ glaring back at her. “She was texting me questions about him a few days ago, but I didn't know why… Now it makes more sense.” Mal couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that Evie hadn’t updated them with this crucial piece of information.

“How is she doing? You know, with all this…” Uma asked genuinely.

“She says she’s fine, but I’m not so sure… I’m worried about tonight. Can you all watch out for her?”

Uma snickered. “Join the club.”

“We’ve kind of already been doing that since we found the journal,” Mal explained.

“And the entire point of a bachelorette party, _Douglas_ , is to have all eyes on Evie. We’ve got this,” Uma promised, a rush of relief coming over Doug’s face.

“Right,” he laughed, ignoring his full name that was only ever used by their closest friends or his mother. “Thanks. I’ll go see if she’s ready.”

Uma turned to Mal with Doug out of the room, but the rare cheerful mood she was in before they got here had disappeared. “What’s wrong?”

Mal looked at her for a moment. “What’s wrong?!” She repeated back, in a furiously hushed tone. “This is _bad,_ Uma. Like really bad. She didn’t tell us anything about this..."

Uma wasn’t getting it. “And?”

“What do you _mean_ , _and?_ This just isn’t like Evie,” Mal pushed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I think someone’s just upset that their best friend hid something from them, again,” Uma thought aloud, earning an eye-roll from Mal. “Maybe she just wanted a few days to lay low with her soon-to-be-husband? That’s _actually_ enjoyable to some people...”

Mal’s present glare at Uma was worse than when she literally turned into a dragon at Cotillion, and Uma realized her reasoning might have sounded more like a dig at Mal’s previous marriage than her natural disdain for committed relationships. That was typical Uma behavior, of course, but even she knew this wasn’t the time for divorce jokes.

“I didn't mean it like that…” Uma promised, but Mal wasn’t ready to hear it.

“Whatever, Uma. You just don't get it,” Mal spat. 

“Don’t get it? Oh, _please_ , Mal. _Please_ enlighten me then with your super unique perspective of this situation. We’ve been doing this _together,_ remember? You asked _me_ to help.”

Mal was silent after that, but Uma wasn’t finished.

“Why are you trying to control Evie’s life anyway,” Uma continued. “If she wants to find her dad, then let her find her dad. A _good_ friend would help instead of trying to prevent it. Maybe that’s why she didn’t tell you!”

“Oh, _fuck off,_ ” Mal scoffed, finally looking Uma in the eye. “I _am_ helping her. I spent _eighteen years_ knowing who my father was, thinking he wanted _nothing_ to do with me! It’s _awful,_ and you _don’t_ know what that’s like. And now I don’t want Evie to feel the same way, times _three.”_

The look on Uma’s face, and lack of response, showed she was surprised by Mal's words. Her motive made total sense, and she had been right. Uma _didn’t_ know what that was like. She’s never known the identity of her father, and quite frankly, she didn’t care anymore. She supposed it would have been worse to know who they were, hearing all about them around the Isle but never hearing _from_ them.

“ _Shit_ … I’m sorry,” Uma apologized earnestly.

“It’s whatever… I just don’t want everything to go up in flames, and _this_ is already a bad sign.” Mal softened, gesturing to the letter.

“I know… we just need to get through this weekend, and then we can-”

“I’m ready!” Evie called as she bounced down the stairs, Doug trailing behind. “Where are we heading first?”

* * *

“What a rush!” Jane giggled, sitting down with the rest of the group after yet another karaoke performance, a fresh round of drinks gracing the table.

“Who’s up for another one?” Dizzy asked eagerly, her soda in hand. 

Lonnie threw back whatever was left in her glass and set it back down on the table. “I’m in. Celia?”

Dizzy nodded hopefully, awaiting her response. The two were practically inseparable, and Evie was more than happy to let Dizzy bring her along. She was their biggest supporter.

“Fine…” Celia groaned, “but I get to pick the song.”

“I get one veto,” Lonnie warned, leading the younger girls to the stage, arms linked at their sides.

Evie smiled as she watched her friends flip through the songbook. She was having a blast. The fame that came with running a business and being so close to royalty meant fewer opportunities for nights out. But Mal and Jane had found a remote little Karaoke bar to host, the Snuggly Duckling, and it could not have been a more perfect choice. 

“We’ve got to go next,” Darcy directed towards Evie. 

“Oh, absolutely,” Evie beamed, hugging her soon-to-be-sister from the side. Darcy was close in age to Dizzy and Celia, which was convenient because there was always someone her age to be at the wedding festivities. She reminded Evie of Dizzy, too, spunky and sweet and just a whole lot of fun. Evie was ecstatic to be gaining another younger sister.

“Another round!” Uma called to the waiter. She was going to need a lot more if she was going to have to endure more singing. However, she _was_ having fun, even if she wouldn’t admit it. 

Her conversation with Mal earlier had her thinking, too, and she didn’t like to think that much, especially about Mal. But, Mal had always been tricky, and she was back to wondering if she had misjudged her... again. Uma didn’t enjoy being wrong, either, so she downed another drink.

Nobody noticed, though, because they were trying to get Evie to do the same.

“Come on, E,” Mal groaned. “It’s your freaking bachelorette party.”

“I'm perfectly buzzed right now,” she promised, a beaming smile across her face. She didn't want things to get too crazy, given the number of uncertainties she was facing, and she felt she was already nearing that point. Her crown was crooked, she could feel it lopsided on her head, and the room felt… weird, and her face was maybe one drink away from becoming completely flushed. Not only was it a bad look for her, but once she made it there, tears always followed, and she had cried enough recently after seeing that returned wedding invitation.

But Mal was persuasive, and so was Audrey, and so was Lonnie, and so was Uma. So, two more karaoke performances (and drinks) later, Evie was no longer in full control of her actions. That’s why she decided to tell Jane, Lonnie, Mal, and Uma (though the latter two already knew) the mood-ruining story about the letter, while Audrey wandered off to flirt with strangers and the three younger girls were planning their next song.

"And just when I find out who he is, it turns out he's _dead_." She admits, waiting for the shocked look on her friend's faces that never really came.

Mal hugged Evie tight and put her head on her friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry, E."

"Yeah, we're here for you, Evie. That's a tough conversation to have with your mother..." Lonnie added, putting her hand on Evie's.

"Do you think she knows?" Evie asked curiously. It wasn't something she had considered yet. "And maybe that's why she never told me about him?"

Uma and Mal mumbled some encouraging responses, but Jane and Lonnie looked at each other with wide eyes. That wasn't exactly what Lonnie had been referring to.

Audrey returned from her failed attempt at finding a suitable Prince at the perfect time. She should've known better anyway; they were out in the middle of nowhere for a reason. "What happened to the party?" She questioned.

"Evie just told us about how one of her potential dads is the Huntsman, and his invite was returned because he's... no longer with us," Mal explained, trying to be sensitive to Evie's emotions.

“Well, duh,” Audrey commented, not seeing Lonnie and Jane’s glares just to keep her mouth shut for once.

Uma, Mal, and Evie just stared in confusion. “What do you mean… duh,” Mal finally asked, fishing for information. She knew Audrey used to be overly judgemental about the VKs and their parents, but she thought they were past that. 

Audrey hesitated, but only for a moment. “The Evil Queen… she… _you know_... is this not common knowledge?”

 _It was_ , if you went to school in Auradon, not if you spent most of your childhood trapped on an island.

Like waves bursting through a dam, it all started to click for Evie. _“What?”_ Her voice was soft, and the hurt oozed through her question. Her mother never mentioned Humbert because _she_ was responsible for his death. " _My mother_... did this?"

Audrey finally clued in enough to read the room. "Sorry... I thought you would've known..."

Evie barely heard her apology before she excused herself to the bathroom. Mal told the others she would handle it, despite Uma trying to tag along. Jane and Lonnie stepped outside to verify whether or not what they learned in school was valid, though it was difficult through the spotty service in the woods.

Mal sent Doug a quick text on her way to find Evie. If Audrey, Jane, and Lonnie knew that the Evil Queen killed the Huntsman, then Doug would have known it too, and specifically left that part out. She understood _why_ he would do that, but he could have at least told her and Uma, so they weren't just as blind-sided as Evie.

Either way, she had a few choice words for him that he wasn't going to be able to escape from. Lucky for him, the call wouldn't go through, but Mal hoped the text at least would.

She found Evie just outside the bathroom in a corner alone, sipping the glass of a drink she's not sure how she obtained. "Evie..."

"Did you know?" Evie asked blankly. Thankfully, Mal shook her head. She didn't know if she could have handled knowing Mal had hidden the truth from her too.

They sat in silence for a minute, side-by-side, before Mal finally spoke. "I know this sucks, but he still might not even be your dad..."

Evie chuckled cynically. "It's not even about that anymore, Mal. My mom is a _murderer."_

"We both have pretty shitty moms-"

"No," Evie interrupted. "Maleficent never _actually_ killed anyone, and I didn't think my mom had either, until now. _How_ am I supposed to have her at my wedding knowing..."

The decrescendo of Evie's thoughts warranted Mal to look at her finally. The mixture of sadness and intoxication caused her eyes to droop, and Mal was surprised they were able to hold back the tears she knew were coming.

But Evie was tired of crying, so she continued to try and numb her sorrows and ignore Mal's attempts at getting her to stop.

* * *

"Ugh!" Audrey groaned. "He saw my story three minutes ago, and nothing!"

Uma side-eyed Audrey from her seat. She had been stuck with her since Mal had run off to help Evie, banning her from joining. After Uma scolded her for the big reveal to Evie, nothing the pink princess had said was of interest to her.

Much to Uma's demise, Audrey kept going, but this time it involved her.

"Does he ever mention me?!"

Uma had to do a double-take to ensure Audrey was speaking to her. "Who?"

Audrey took that as a bad sign. She put her head in her hands. " _Harry_..."

Uma had suspected Harry and Audrey still met up from time to time, but her conversation with Audrey confirmed it. "Harry and I don't really talk about our relationships with each other..." It wasn't a full lie. Uma may accidentally blab to Harry about her and Mal, but only because she can't talk to anyone else about it. Harry is less inclined to share with her, however, especially since Uma hung out with Audrey on occasion... like right now.

Audrey believed Uma, though, going on and on about how all the selfies she has posted were a waste if they weren't getting a response from him. Uma felt a twinge of sympathy for her; Audrey wasn't all terrible, and Uma's seen the aftermath of people whom Harry leads on.

Before she could continue feeling bad for Audrey, something else had caught Uma's eye: Mal chasing after Evie across the bar.

"Evie, hold on," Mal huffed as she sped after her best friend, who was headed to get another drink. Mal couldn't follow-through with cutting her off, though, because she ran smack into someone.

"Watch where you're going," she spat, brushing off her arm. To her surprise, she recognized the face in front of her when she looked up. "What the _hell_ , Doug?!?" She asked rhetorically for more reasons than one.

"Mal! I'm so sorry! I feel terrible about all of this," Doug admitted.

"Tell that to Evie!" Mal responded, gesturing towards where she had run off to and smacking him on the arm. "She's devastated! What were you thinking?!"

Doug's sorrowful look and flustering for words helped Mal soften. "You could have at least given us a warning today," she continued.

"I didn't want to tell anyone until after the party," Doug explained, "which would have given me time to research and make sure that it was even _true_ before I told her..." He paused his rambling when he realized that it was all irrelevant now. He needed to fix things. He muttered another apology and a thank you for good measure before walking off towards Evie.

Mal followed close behind, though. Given Evie's current state, Mal didn't know how she would react to seeing him.

* * *

Evie closed her eyes and sipped lightly at the bright-colored straw that came with her new drink, the cold sour-yet-sweet liquid barely burning as it traveled down her throat. She was delighted she couldn't feel that sting anymore. Actually, she could barely feel _anything_. Just the pressure of the bar under her arms, which was probably the sole reason she was still on two feet.

This is what her friends wanted, right? A night where she drank so much that the night was a blur, and she could forget about everything going on and just focus on _her_. She figured it was supposed to be fun too, the _whole_ night, but that ship had since sailed.

Evie opened her eyes again- the room much blurrier and spinnier than she remembered it had been moments ago. "Hey, Evie," she heard from behind her. She loved how her name sounded from this stranger; It was soft and made her feel warm inside.

"Hiiii," she drawled, turning towards whoever it was, their kind blue eyes meeting hers. They looked familiar, but she started to fall onto the person before the rest of their face cleared her blurred vision.

"Whoa there, E," another voice chimed. Evie saw a flash of purple out of the corner of her eye as she felt two sets of hands holding her up.

"How much did she drink, Mal?!" The first voice asked worriedly. _So Mal had found her, great._

"I didn't count, Doug! I was too busy consoling her!"

Doug! That made so much sense. She knew she had recognized that voice. Evie felt too heavy and too drowsy to form words, though, her head now resting on Doug's shoulder. The room was still spinning, but he was holding her steady.

"Maybe you should take her home? I didn't realize it was this bad..." Mal said apologetically.

 _Home._ Home sounded nice. Home wouldn't be as loud, Evie thought, the booming music of the Snuggly Duckling pulsing through her brain. Luckily, Doug was thinking the same as Mal. His party crew had finally caught up to him and could assist in getting Evie out of here, so that's exactly what they did.

With Doug and Jay in the back of the car they had called for, and Evie curled up across their laps, Mal ventured back inside to find the others.

It was not the night she had expected, that's for sure. As she wandered towards where the group was previously sitting, she noticed everyone was more spread out. Carlos had found Jane when he arrived with Doug, Harry was after Audrey, Gil was chatting with Lonnie, and Doug's brother was going to ride with the younger girls back to Auradon. 

That left Uma sitting in the same spot she had been all night. Mal headed that way, but the familiar laugh she heard nearby made her turn elsewhere, ducking out the back door. The last thing she needed tonight was a conversation with _him_.

Uma thought Mal was coming to talk to her but watched her slip out the back when Ben came into focus instead, chatting with Gil and Lonnie. Uma was curious- and the party had literally fizzled- so she followed her.

"How'd it go?" She questioned as she found Mal outside, sitting down next to her on the stone steps.

Mal chuckled dryly. "Clearly not very well."

Uma matched her snicker. "At least you didn't have to listen to Audrey drone _on and on_ about her selfies to thirst trap Harry."

"At least you don't have to avoid your ex-husband in the back of a karaoke bar," Mal countered lightly, though it didn't settle as soft as she hoped.

Uma smiled fleetingly, pausing for a moment. She pulled her jacket tighter around her body as the wind whistled past them. "Guess we kind of failed at our whole watch out for Evie thing, huh?"

"Yeah, we did," Mal groaned. "Don't know if we could have possibly done any worse..."

"It was fun while it lasted," Uma offered. 

"Oh, so you're actually admitting to having fun with me?" Mal teased as they both laughed. "Just like old times..." Mal continued.

It felt so familiar: the banter, the buzz, the chill in the air. Uma barely had time to recognize where her Deja Vu was coming from before it was happening again in reality.

Mal's hand had pulled Uma close by the cheek and pressed their lips together in one swift motion. If it had been any slower, maybe Uma would have stopped it. But the glorious rush of feeling Mal's lips on hers had returned, and not even a captain like her was strong enough to resist. She hated herself for it.

Mal had missed tangling her fingers in Uma's braids, tasting the remnants of her favorite brandy on her tongue. It was strong and angry and passionate all at once, just like it had been the night of her own bachelorette party, until it suddenly stopped.

"We can't keep doing this.." Uma breathed, having only pulled her face inches away from Mal's. It took every ounce of her strength to stop herself from kissing Mal again, her glance flickering from her eyes to her lips. But she meant what she said.

Mal wanted to protest Uma's words- she wanted to explain that they could, indeed, keep doing this. It was all she could think about, and if Uma didn't want to be seen with her, then nobody had to know. It already felt like the entire night was engulfed in flames, so what was another burn?

But before Mal even had the chance, Uma was gone.


	5. you look like a movie star

Evie’s eyes squinted as the sun shone through her curtains onto her face, the sound of birds chirping in her ears. The bright light and noise made her realize that her head was indeed throbbing. She could barely move her arm to cover her eyes.

“Ughhh,” she groaned, trying to shift away from the sunlight, recognizing her blue silk sheets and pillows as she pulled them up to her face. Why the hell was she at home? She was supposed to be staying over at a cabin they had rented. 

Evie tried to think back to the night before. She remembered singing with her friends, putting on a few incredible performances, but the rest was pretty blurry. The more she looked around the room, the more things started to come back to her. Mal handing her drinks, Mal taking her drinks away, running into Doug…

Oh right, Doug had taken her home- she vaguely remembered him helping her get to bed. A shift of her leg meeting his concluded that he was on the other side of the bed. She instantly felt bad, and not from just the nausea and pounding in her head. Apparently, she must have been such a mess that she had ruined her party and his.

She groaned softly, fully pulling the covers over her eyes to shield herself from the strobe light effect caused by the shadows of tree branches swaying in the sunlight. It must not have been softly enough because she felt Doug stir beside her, possibly turning to face her. A peek from beneath the blanket confirmed she was correct, and he looked… upset.

Evie sighed, uncovering her head and turning away from the light. “I’m sorry,” she admitted, looking him in the eyes. “I didn’t mean to ruin your night…”

Doug furrowed his eyebrows. “What? You have nothing to apologize for. I ruined _your_ night… I should have told you sooner.”

Now it was Evie’s turn to scrunch her eyebrows. She barely remembered seeing Doug last night, let alone him doing something to- _Oh…_

The neurons firing in her brain finally connected the dots: telling her friends about the letter, Audrey sharing the only thing she learned in history class, Mal’s efforts to cheer her up, the sinking feeling in her stomach that was returning with the memories. 

Doug noticed Evie’s face change from confused to sorrowful, signifying her memory of the previous night. “I didn’t mean to keep that from you… I just wanted to see if it was true before I told you.”

Evie stayed silent for a moment, still not sober enough to process the fact that her mother may have been responsible for her father’s death. She wasn’t upset at Doug per se, though she would have preferred he tell her. But there were things she had hidden from him as well, so maybe that’s where her grace was coming from.

“Maybe next time we would be able to find out together,” she offered in a very neutral tone.

“Definitely,” he agreed quickly, feeling relieved that he hadn’t completely screwed up. “ I still haven’t actually, uh, found anything. I was thinking we might have to ask Carlos or Ben for access to a certain software for records of that kind of stuff…” 

Evie nodded, chewing softly at her lip as her eyes drifted shut again. “I can't really think about all that right now,” she confessed. The constant thud in her head was enough without making her brain do extra work. She moved closer to him, burying her face in his neck. “Tell me about your night.”

Doug told the hilarious story of the start to his night at a Casino, Evie snickering every so often as she listened closely, content in the circles he was tracing on her back. “I am bummed, I didn’t get to see one of your epic karaoke sessions live, though,” he added as he finished his tale, having seen one of her performances with Mal and Uma on the other girls’ stories.

“It would not have been nearly as good by the time you got there,” she groaned, wishing she or her friends had been slightly more responsible so she would not be feeling so… awful. The room would still lean slightly when she opened her eyes, the only thing making her feel like she wasn’t at sea was Doug’s hand on her back.

“I’m really, really, sorry,” he repeated his apology with sincerity. 

“I know,” Evie smiled flatly, looking up toward him. “No more secrets?”

“No more secrets,” he confirmed, kissing her forehead. “Would you like me to go get you a breakfast biscuit and a soda?”

_“Please.”_

* * *

“Pass the salsa!” Carlos called down to Evie, reaching across Jay in between to receive the bowl from Evie as it made a sliding noise across the restaurant table. Gil shoved a chip in the bowl as soon as Carlos put it in front of them, Harry getting ready to do the same beside him.

“Somehow, this still isn’t as bad as how they were on my ship” Uma rolled her eyes, getting a laugh from Evie across from her.

“These two weren’t much better when we first came to Auradon,” Evie assured. The six of them were currently out to dinner, eating appetizers, and awaiting the rest of the group to join them. Mal and Doug were among the people they were waiting on, as they were working on some super-secret surprise wedding gift for her, and she was pretty sure Jane was involved too. As much as she wanted to pry and figure out what they were up to (it probably wouldn’t be that hard to find out), she was trying to stay out of it. She trusted both of them with her life, and it was quite sweet that they were doing something for her together.

They figured a group outing would be nice once everyone had recovered, though some could not make it. With the wedding literally around the corner, they needed to ensure everyone is on good terms. The last thing Evie needed was another issue arising on the big day. She was already sick to her stomach, thinking of her mother and two unidentified guests turning up.

“Come on!” Jay shouted at the professional tourney game on one of the many screens. Evie saw Gil’s smile widen at Jay’s frustration.

“It’s like they’re not even trying,” Harry added, shaking his head. 

“You should be out there,” Carlos muttered to Jay, a mouthful of food blocking most of his enunciation. 

“One day…” Jay sighed. Evie rubbed his shoulder in understanding. She knew he would make it eventually.

“Hey, look! It’s ol’ Gaston, Gilly,” Harry pointed out as he flashed across the screen, elbowing his friend beside him. 

Gil chuckled, “He did tell me he was going to be in a commercial.”

“ _A pure paragon,_ ” Uma added, sarcastically. Gaston wasn’t her favorite person, knowing how he had treated Gil in the past, but she also knew Gil cared about his father. _A lot._

The six friends listened intently to the rest of the cheesy commercial, Gaston’s charisma oozing through the screen, catchy commercial jingle ringing through the room.

“Honestly, that was pretty catchy,” Carlos admitted, licking his fingers clean of the salsa he finished. 

“He always used to come up with catchy rhymes for my brothers and me when we were little,” Gil started. “So we wouldn’t forget things like house rules or our address.” He started snapping his fingers. “Don’t go insane, Cure all your pain, Come see Gaston’s lustrous mane at 64 Shipwreck Lane!”

Gil’s friends laughed as he continued to snap and sway along to Gaston’s song. Soon enough, their whole table was moving their heads to the beat, Evie included.

She had to admit, it was catchy, though it clearly showed Gaston’s well-known ego. Even as their conversation moved on, Evie couldn’t get the silly rhyme out of her head. Something about it felt… familiar in a way.

_Don’t go insane, Cure all your pain, Come see Gaston’s lustrous mane at 64 Shipwreck Lane!_

_64 Shipwreck Lane…._

_64…_

_Oh my gosh_

Evie hoped she didn’t gasp out loud when her thoughts clicked together in her brain. No one seemed to notice, but Uma was looking at her wide-eyes with confusion.

“Uma, mind accompanying me to the ladies’ room?”

Evie’s urging eyebrows silenced whatever sarcastic comment was bound to come out of Uma’s mouth, and they were up from the table before Harry could comment that captain’s go to the loo alone.

Evie pulled Uma into the largest stall and locked the door behind her.

“What’s this about? Are you okay?!” Uma questioned wearily.

“64 Shipwreck Lane!” Evie exclaimed, tossing her hands in the air and repeating the address. Her mind wouldn’t let her form any other words yet.

“Yeah… That’s Gil’s address…” Uma started slowly as if Evie was losing her mind. “Are you sure you’re okay?! Maybe you need to eat something-”

“64 Shipwreck Lane was one of _THE_ addresses,” Evie explained, finally gathering her thoughts. “ _Gil’s address is one of the addresses!_ ”

“Ohhhhhh…” Uma drawled, finally connecting the dots. “ _Shit._ ”

“I know,” Evie sighed, hands flying to her cheeks in concern.

“So, what does this mean? That Gaston is your dad? Or Gil? Or one of his brothers? Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s impossible, but-”

“ _Please_ stop there,” Evie squirmed. She was starting to feel sick. Uma was right. It was nearly impossible for Gil or Gaston Jr. to be her dad, but Gaston could be, and that would mean she had quite a few brothers. It was a lot to take in.

“Sorry,” Uma quickly apologized, noticing the color draining from Evie’s face. She took Evie’s arm and sat her down on the stool that happened to be in the stall. “Everything is going to be fine, alright? Gil would actually be great to have as a brother.”

Evie took in deep breaths to regain control of her breathing while holding onto Uma’s hand. “You’re right, but we still don’t know if it’s Gaston,” Evie reminded her. She had previously been so sure that her father was the Huntsman. The possibility of another led her to be more cautious this time. “There is still the returned letter. And, I don’t know, has Gil always lived there? What if someone else lived there before?”

Uma shrugged and pondered her questions carefully. “As far as I know, he’s always lived there. Maybe I can pry out some more information from him, you know, without saying anything.” 

Evie nodded, feeling the world around her stop spinning. There was a lot to think about, but she remembered that nothing was certain yet. That much she knew for sure.

“We should probably get back to the group, though. Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I don’t want anyone to get suspicious.” Evie agreed, standing up quickly. “Thanks for this...”

“Anytime,” Uma smiled her most genuine smile. She tossed her arm over her friend’s shoulder, and they walked out the door.

Mal nearly ran right into the two, Uma's smile fading instantly upon their eye contact. Mal’s eyes quickly dashed to Evie’s instead, given Uma and herself had not seen each other since the karaoke bar. “Um... Everything good here?” She asked, hoping Evie overlooked the fumbling awkwardness between them.

“It is now,” Uma pointedly boasted. Mal tried to ignore her attitude. _Uma_ was the one who left her in the chill of the night.

“Temporarily, at least,” Evie added, hugging Mal, bringing her back to the present. Almost perfectly, an idea popped into her head. “Can you both come over after this? Doug and I are trying to do some more research on, you-know-what, and Mal, we have a new update.”

“Sure,” Mal forced. The last thing she wanted to do was be the object of Uma’s hatred for more than she had to, but she knew this was important to Evie. Uma would probably keep her distance anyway. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I actually have to use the bathroom.”

Evie smiled as Mal pushed past them, making her way back to their table. The corners of her mouth tugged further upwards when she saw that Doug had arrived with Mal. He had stolen her spot next to Jay at the table, but that was probably for the best, as she needed to be in the seat farthest away from Gil right now. 

“Hi,” she chimed as she sat down next to Doug, slipping her hand into his. She tried to ignore Uma, who had abandoned her seat to sit next to Gil, probably aiming to get some more information from him. “How’s my super secret surprise coming along?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he responded, taking a sip of his drink to dodge any further questioning. 

Evie smirked and squeezed his hand, turning her attention back towards the rest of the table, where Mal had returned and stolen Uma’s previous seat.

The light and airy chatter of the upcoming wedding somehow returned excitement to the event. Evie had been so caught up in the mess she created that she had sort of gotten lost. But she was tired of that- the surprised and unexpected turns and the way it would ruin her time with friends. It was _exhausting_ , she decided, but no more. She was going to get ahead of it.

* * *

"Alright," Evie's voice boomed across her living room. "Thank you all for being here. We have a lot of work to do," she demanded, though one of the three people she was talking to lived there, and the other two would rather be anywhere else. "As you all know, we have been working, somewhat together, to discover the identity of my father. I think it's important that we all _actually_ work together now so things... don't get out of hand."

Doug, Mal, and Uma nodded in unison, remembering the events of a few nights prior. 

"I'm glad you all agree," Evie continued, "because we all need to be on the same page. I know I was hiding things at the start of this mess, but clearly, that didn't help anything. So, no more secrets. Alright?"

All three nodded again, though Mal and Uma shared a quick look of panic, hoping Evie was only referring to no more secrets about the wedding. Not... other stuff.

"Perfect," Evie smiled. "I'll start. Doug and Mal, Uma, and I found who we think Suitor 2, well 3, is. Before you guys got to dinner, Gil talked about his address, 64 Shipwreck Lane. So..."

"Gaston..." Doug finished when Evie trailed off, struggling to say the words herself. She nodded.

"Whoa," Mal thought aloud. "I mean... I guess it makes sense, right? Evil Queen seeks out the most attractive and vain man on the Isle to give her the perfect daughter..."

"But she wouldn't want someone to be more beautiful than her," Evie added, shuddering at the thought. "Trust me."

"And Gaston wouldn't agree to a deal like this if there wasn't something in it for him," Uma retorted, trying to disprove Mal's theory, which she noticed.

"All good notions," Doug admitted. "But we also have the letter, and I mean, we _know_ that the Evil Queen and the Huntsman worked together. It would have been very easy for them to... you know..." he started to blush.

"Reproduce," Mal said at the same time that Uma remarked, " _Bang._ " The two looked at each other quickly, angrily, before returning to ignoring one another.

"And then kill him once she got the daughter she wanted..." Evie finished, bringing down the energy in the room. Even Mal and Uma softened their demeanors. 

Doug put his arm around Evie, rubbing her arm in support. "That's also what we are here to figure out," Doug reminded her. "I got that software from Carlos, and Ben gave us full access to the Kingdom's records."

Uma noticed Mal flinch when Doug mentioned Ben's name. For a moment, she felt remorse, but it went away just as quickly as it came. "Alright, Doug, fire up that software thing. I'll get some popcorn. Evie, need anything else?"

Evie smiled in appreciation and shook her head. Uma ventured off into Evie's kitchen, happy to have a break from being in the same room as Mal. Having to sit at the same table as her was hard enough. It was like every time she heard her voice, she was transported back to the outside of the karaoke bar.

It was the same as the aftermath from Mal's bachelorette party, except this time Uma seemed to be doing most of the avoiding. Since she couldn't shake the feeling of Mal's lips on hers, she was as nasty to her as she could to keep her away. Without being suspicious, of course.

When Uma returned to the group, it appeared they had made some progress.

"Wait, if she _did_ kill him, wouldn't he have been brought back to life to go on the Isle with the other villains?" Mal thought aloud. 

"No, because he didn't _actually_ kill Snow White, so he was never a villain," Uma explained, though not very calmly. She smiled to herself, knowing Mal was probably fuming inside.

"I think Uma is right," Doug decided. "It looks like he died on the mainland and was never brought to the Isle..."

"So, does that mean he's not actually my dad?" Evie questioned. "If he never was on the Isle?"

"Well, that I'm not so sure about," Doug admitted. " _But,_ the date he died was _after_ they banned villains to the Isle."

"So she didn't kill him," Evie breathed, beyond relieved. Doug squeezed her hand. He would save his rant about the lies they were taught in Auradon History class for later. Even Uma and Mal couldn't hold back a smile.

"So, How do we find out if it's Humbert or Gaston?" Mal questioned.

"I don't think this will tell us that," Doug started, "but I'll try and figure out as much as I can."

"I'm gonna need a drink then," Uma groaned, getting up and heading back towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need one," Mal stated, as calmly as she could. She needed to have a word with Uma, but luckily Doug and Evie were too enthralled by the computer to notice their absence.

Uma rolled her eyes when she saw Mal followed her into the kitchen.

"Listen," Mal whispered angrily. "I _know_ you want nothing to do with me, but we need to be there for Evie right now, and they cannot catch on!"

Uma laughed spitefully. Of course, Mal was only worried about getting caught, not about how Uma actually wanted everything to do with her.

"Evie's my friend too, you know. You don't have to tell me when I need to be there for her. _Maybe_ you should have been there for her at the party instead of-"

"Enough!" Mal whispered, exasperated. "I don't know why-"

"Uma!" Evie sang as she popped into the kitchen. "I forgot to ask if you found anything else out from Gil at dinner?"

"Oh, not really," Uma sighed, turning away from Mal quickly, "It seems like he's lived there his whole life."

"I wonder if he's gotten an invitation..." Evie pondered.

As if on cue, Uma, Evie, and Mal's phones dinged simultaneously, each of them opening the message with haste.

**Gil:** _Do two invitations mean I need to bring two gifts? :'D_

Evie looked up at Mal and Uma with wide-eyes. They had their answer.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the Mamma Mia! inspired Descendants story! A few months ago, I was thinking about all of the headcanons for Evie's dad, and then it hit me, and now, here we are! I expect this to be around 7 chapters in total. Oh, and the somewhat of a prequel is up in this same series. More characters and ships to appear as well. I hope you enjoy this, as it has been a blast to write!


End file.
